With the continued development of portable media players, social networking services, “smart” internet connected devices, improved wired/wireless data transmission speeds, and the like, individual users continue to have more methods and mediums to create, share, discover and consume more and more digital media content. Today, there exist numerous electronic devices that are used by a consumer to interact with digital media content for entertainment, education, and commerce purposes. These electronic devices include media devices that obtain digital media content from the Internet, cable, satellite, etc., and present or stream the digital media content to the user via audio and/or video display(s), which can be a component of the media device or a separate device, such as a television. Some examples of these media devices include set top boxes, video streaming devices (e.g., Apple TV® and Roku®), smart televisions, and gaming consoles (e.g., Sony PlayStation® and Xbox One®). Other well-known electronic devices used to gather information include laptop and desktop computers, tablets, netbooks, and smartphones. These devices are often used to watch streaming videos, listen to music, chat with friends, engage in social networking, shop, and generally surf the Internet.
Moreover, many consumers often use two or more of these devices concurrently. For example, while watching a live streaming football game on a television, a user may use a tablet or smartphone to check the ranking of his or her fantasy football team, purchase a jersey of his or her favorite player, text a friend telling them to turn on the game, etc. Moreover, there are other ways in which the user may enhance the consuming experience of the content on the television. For example, while watching the football game, the user may perform an online search on the topic relating to the game (e.g., current playoff standings) using a computer, netbook, tablet, smartphone or the like, and then navigate to a site that has additional information on the topic.
Currently, in order to obtain additional information relating to current media content being presented to the user on one device such as the user's television, the user has to exert a significant amount of effort to obtain this additional information on that device or on a secondary device. For example, the user would have to formulate Internet search terms, review the search results, navigate to the selected site to determine whether the information is the information sought by the user, and the like. The user may have to repeat this process several times before finding the precise information he/she desires. This process can be tedious and inconvenient. The two devices are distinct and independent without the digital media content from one flowing to the other.
Moreover, while the consumption of digital media content on multiple devices can be coordinated by a user, the disparate digital media content cannot be simultaneously presented to the user on a single device. For example, if a user is viewing primary source content, such as a live broadcast, on a television, but then wants to view secondary digital media content using a video streaming device, such as Apple TV®, the user must switch between source inputs of the television since the set top box receiving the live broadcast is connected to a first high-definition multimedia interface (“HDMI”) input of the television while the video streaming device is connected to a second HDMI input and the television is generally incapable of concurrently displaying content received by two separate inputs. In other words, because the set top box and video streaming device are connected in parallel to the user's television, the parallel configuration only allows for the replacement of the original content by switching source inputs, such that the digital media content from the two devices cannot be consumed by the user simultaneously and/or synchronously.